Wal-Mart has launched www.workformarketside.com, a website
that currently lists eight job openings for Marketside managers
and assistant managers in four Arizona cities.

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The site says Marketside will "simplify the daily challenge
of creating an enjoyable meal by providing inspiring choices,
while also offering everyday favorites at great prices in an
easy-to-shop environment."

Wal-Mart, whose No. 2 British supermarket chain Asda
competes with No. 1 Tesco in the United Kingdom, has long been
expected to open a new, smaller store concept that would rival
Tesco's stores in the States.

Wal-Mart is now working on launching the convenience
store-sized markets in four cities southeast of Phoenix.

Store application plans call for the stores to occupy
roughly 15,000 square feet. That is less than half the average
size of Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market grocery stores, and a
small fraction of the size of its Supercenters, which combine
grocery stores with general merchandise and can be more than
three times the size of a U.S. football field.

A story in the Financial Times said on Friday that
Marketside locations will prepare and serve food, and include a
kitchen, food counters and seating for up to nine people.

Wal-Mart spokesman Nick Agarwal said the retailer tests
lots of different formats.

"We'll no doubt announce more in due course but not at this
stage," he said of the retailer's plans for the new stores.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman and Nicole Maestri, editing
by Will Waterman and Steve Orlofsky)